Why Can’t I Buy Domain Names through Comcast?

Updated on April 24, 2012

As a Comcast customer and aspiring web page publisher, you may be looking to purchase a domain name and hosting services directly from Comcast. While Comcast does offer hosting services for their business clients, they do not make those same services available to residential customers. If you are already a business customer, you can simply call Comcast to upgrade to business class hosting and they will take care of you needs. However, if you are just beginning your web publishing efforts and would prefer to retain the traditional Comcast consumer high speed service, you will have to find other vendors for your domain registration and hosting services. That said, there are several great vendors who can offer both your domain registration as well as any hosting services that you may need as a fledgling web publisher, and all of these provider can be accessed through your Comcast internet connection. Most hosting services offer domain registration for very little, and several will include one or more free domain names with the most basic hosting services.

Determine your web publishing needs as part of your selection process. You need to understand your requirements, and compare those requirements to the services and prices offered by each potential provider. First, do you need domain registration and hosting, or are you simply looking to purchase a domain name that you intend to park for future use? Secondly, if you intend to publish a web site, do you expect significant traffic or will your site be limited in the number of visitors you expect? With these questions answered, you can begin to shop potential providers based on cost.

Research customer comments and the Better Business Bureau results, once you select a few “short list” candidates. It is important to understand that many hosting providers offer service to thousands of web publishers, so you don’t necessarily need to be frightened by a few negative reviews. However, if your research reveals excessive negative customers comments or complaints, you are best to eliminate that provider from your search, even if they have the lowest price. As a beginning publisher, it may be best to look specifically at the larger hosting companies since they normally provide more tools and services that are geared to beginners.

Select your provider based on your technical requirements, price, services, and customer feedback. Now that you have completed your diligence on the various providers, you are ready to sign up with the provider that most closely matches your needs. In nearly all cases this is an on-line process and once you complete your initial sign-up, you will be activated almost immediately.

Search for domain names using your Hosting provider’s tool. Your service provider will offer tools that allow for searching and purchasing of your domain name. In general you will want a name that is as short and as relevant to your web site’s purpose as possible. Once you find the name that works for your site, simply click buy and you will be the proud new owner of a registered domain name.

Some of the links below represent a few larger domain registers and hosting providers, but do not represent an inclusive list. Make sure you are comfortable with your provider before you register your domain name because changing providers after the fact is much more difficult than simply choosing well the first time.